Language: The Murderous Weapon Of War
Beware the propaganda of killing that comes wrapped in the cushy euphemism.
Americans shield themselves from the reality of their actions with a cozy comforter of euphemism and watery language that dilutes, mutates and eventually evaporates the truth of what the — not our — government does in our name and on our dime.
In this brilliant routine, comedian George Carlin strips bare our many linguistic dodges and deceptions. Some are merely amusing, others mask murder and torture. One particularly grotesque example he doesn’t mention is the neutered term “collateral damage”, used to mask the toll of innocent civilians mutilated and murdered by our many profitable weapons of war.
Human rights groups are reporting a child being killed every 15 minutes in Gaza — that’s 96 per day. Day after day. Some by our murderous white phosphorus bombs. Add to that the deaths of dozens of Israeli children killed by Hamas, who were murdered by weapons the US may have supplied Ukraine (some 60 percent of US weapons sent to Ukraine cannot be accounted for). That may or may not be verified, but what is definitely true is US weapons manufacturers provide most of the weapons in the international arms trade, fueling everything from drug cartels to coups to full-scale war and war crimes, and if some American weapons weren’t used by Hamas that would be a miracle.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration has callously announced it will place no restrictions on the use of American weapons supplied to Israel.
We are being doused in a firehose of propaganda, deception and lies from both the government and corporate media, designed to stoke fear and hate. The tide of lying sludge will surge. Listen carefully with George Carlin’s wise instruction in mind.
Mark Taylor
DeMOCKracy.ink
